EDUCATION & CORRUPTION: VC receives threat calls

Siliguri, Sept. 2: The vice-chancellor of North Bengal University has faxed a letter to the governor asking for security for his family after he reportedly received life threats over the phone on two consecutive nights.

“The first call came around 9.30pm on Monday. A man, who spoke in Bengali, threatened me to shoot me dead if I did not vacate my position at NBU immediately. The person also threatened to kidnap my wife and daughter, who studies in a missionary school in Matigara. I am not concerned about myself but my wife and daughter are soft targets since they have to move in and out of the university premises frequently. On Tuesday, I sent a letter to the chancellor (governor) requesting him to provide security for my wife and daughter if he deemed it fit,” Arunabha Basumajumdar told The Telegraph over the phone today.

Although the VC has not named anybody in the letter to governor M.K. Narayanan, he has accused a “coterie of persons, who are against transparency and for corruption”, of threatening him.

“On Tuesday night around the same time, I received another call. I cannot tell whether it was the same person or not but he repeated the same threat. He asked me why I am still holding my post and whether I am not worried about the security of my daughter and wife,” Basumajumdar said. “But I will definitely not resign and complete my tenure in NBU.”

Basumajumdar had joined as the vice-chancellor on January 1, 2008, and his tenure ends on December 31, 2011.

The VC said he had informed Matigara police of the threat calls “verbally”. “A formal complaint will be lodged tomorrow.”

According to him, this is the second time he has received such threats after the first one in May, when he had got an anonymous letter. “That letter was written in Bengali. The writer had asked me to vacate my post or else I would be murdered and my family would be kidnapped. I had lodged an FIR with the Matigara police station on May 25,” he said.